Classes for Nonmajors

THEA 1013
Survey of Theatre
Fulfills Fine Arts Foundation (FF)
Also available as an online course

Students will explore the art of theatre through lecture and participation. Students learn about theatre’s craft areas–acting, playwriting, designing, directing; production areas; management areas; history and aesthetics. Theatre’s search for truth and construction of meaning, and contributions to civilization (advocacy). Attend live theatre.

Students will explore television as a theatrical art form. Television content and structure will be examined and critiqued through multiple lenses, including historical antecedents and international media issues.

Students will discover and explore the visual world of the theatre, including the design process. Students investigate elements and principles of design, and learn to apply them in the analysis of costume, scenery, and lighting. Meets with THEA 1550.

Musical theatre is an exciting, highly collaborative, and constantly evolving art form that is quintessentially American. This course is a survey of the creation and development of American musical theatre from its roots in early European comic opera and operetta to the contemporary Broadway musical. Students will learn the history and basic forms/styles of musical theatre; explore the aesthetic and philosophical attitudes of those who create(d) musical theatre; and examine the political climates and prevailing social attitudes of the eras in which musical theatre was and is currently created and how these climates and attitudes have inspired and influenced the subject matter, artists, and productions.

Theatrical scripts and performances provide unique, inside looks at the impact of American politics on everyday life. Readings and discussions of plays that reflect problems of class (Labor-Capital), conflict (The Cold War, and Vietnam), caste (Race, Gender) and sexual preference.

Advanced acting techniques for non-majors. The course builds upon skills and techniques developed in Acting I through focused approaches to character creation and acting styles across diverse theatrical forms.

THEA 3000
Grappling with Diversity and Multiculturalism through the Arts
Fulfills Diversity (DV)

Use of arts-based inquiry to represent data and explore diverse texts dealing with multiculturalism and diversity. Students create and produce performance pieces that integrate formal histories, personal narrative, case studies, and theories and critiques of multicultural education.

An introduction to the performance styles and traditions of the dramatic arts of Japan, this course focuses on the practice and performance styles of Noh, Kyogen, Kabuki, and Bunraku. Basic Zen meditation will be explored to understand the mental discipline required of these highly theatrical and non-realistic forms, which continue music, dance, and narrative.

This course is designed for students who wish to improve voice and speech skills in the interest of clear and effective communication. Emphases include body release, grounding of the breath, alignment, resonance, projection, rhythm, and pacing.

THEA 3051
Theatre Singing Contemporary Styles

Study and practice towards professional performance of the contemporary singing styles of Musical Theatre (including mix, belt, and pop), integrating the skills of musicianship, singing, acting, speech, and movement.

In this course students will examine musical theatre works that have been produced both on stage and screen. With an understanding that live theatre and the cinema are very different art forms, we will examine how musicals are able to transcend from and succeed in both media. In addition, we will discuss how the two forms have informed on another.

THEA 3210
Tai Chi Yoga Movement

Tai-Chi Yoga incorporates the dance forms, martial applications, and energy work of Tai Chi, with the exercise, breathing, and meditation of Yoga.

THEA 3220
Movement Awareness

Using the Alexander Technique, this course facilitates the improvement of mobility, posture, performance, alertness, and the relief of chronic stiffness, tension, and stress. The Technique uses clarity of thought applied to everyday movements as well as those of singers, actors, musicians, dancers, and athletes, among others.

THEA 3600
Stage Management

Introduction to the creative and administrative work of a stage manager, including forms and formats, protocols, and roles of the stage manager in a University production

THEA 3790-002
Science on Stage

In this course, we bring together the human experience of the scientist with its public perception as embodied in theatre. After all, what is more dramatic than the excitement (and terror) of discovery, that moment when the earth seems to shift beneath one’s feet and everything appears change? Playwrights have recognized the inherent drama of scientific discovery for centuries, but the last fifteen years especially have seen an explosion of new plays about science and scientists. Science on Stage explores the range of science plays now available, with a particular interest in understanding how they reflect the public understanding of science, as well as understanding the science and theatre history that inform the plays’ content and form. Students will read plays on a variety of scientific subjects written in many different styles. Weekly lectures will contextualize the plays in scientific, cultural, and theatrical terms. Throughout the semester, students will collaborate in interdisciplinary teams to discuss and synthesize course material in the conception of an original live performance event about science.

THEA 3791
Absurd Theatre
Fulfills Humanities Exploration (HF)

Students will examine the dramatic literature of seminal writers such as Alfred Jarry, Jean Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Samuel Beckett, Jean Genet, Eugene Ionesco, Harold Pinter, and others in an exploration of their philosophies, reaction to world events, and creative expression.

THEA 4110
Acting and Directing Shakespeare

Students will study the craft of acting and directing Shakespeare through play analysis, interpretation, rehearsal, and performance. Students will craft a “director’s vision” and realize that vision through the rehearsal and production of scenes.